In Three's

Did you ever notice that when something quits working at your house, it usually comes in “threes”? That seems to happen at our house. One by one, something goes wrong, until you hit the third thing, and then you hope it’s the last thing to go wrong in this week.

1. On Monday night I came home from work to find that our computer would not turn on! Try as we did, we just could not get it to turn on.

2. My cell phone has been acting up by not holding its charge.

3. Our home telephone, the 9 digit on the dial has been sticking for a long time, and this week chose to quit working.

Now, I could do without a cell phone for quite a while, since I mainly use it to call home if I’m going to be late, or to leave a message. In fact, my kids wonder why Mom has a cell phone, they tell me it’s pretty useless because “you never have your cell phone on”, since I don’t have it on, they can never reach me …so they pretty much don’t call me on it anymore.

However, without a working cell phone, we can’t be without a telephone at home. I use my calling card a lot to call family in Pennsylvania. I never realized how many 9’s were in my card number and the number I call to access my phone minutes, until the 9 started acting up. The nine has been sticking for weeks, then on Thurs. night really went haywire. A telephone for the home, we must have.

The computer… at this house we have become very dependent on the computer. Rob loves to look stuff up, and he sits and reads online for hours. I love to use my e mail and of course, now love to blog. Rob and I keep track of our banking on line, and I pay bills on line. Even Bob, who never wanted a computer in the first place, now gets grumpy if it’s not working. He looks up sports stuff and keeps track of the status of our 401 K on line.

I took a personal day off of work yesterday so I could take care of these three problems and also some other things on the home front that have been hanging over my head.

I accomplished a lot even after “sleeping in”, and having a relaxed morning:

1. Received the computer part they told us we needed from the Fed ex man.

2. Purchased a new telephone, the new one is lighter and smaller than the old one.

3. Redeemed my certificate for a free cell phone at the Sprint store that I received in November when I renewed my Sprint contract. This cell phone is lighter and smaller than the old one.

4. Stopped at big sale at JC Penney and redeemed my gift card that I received in July, along with a $10 coupon from the newspaper. I came home feeling like I received a lot for not much $$. Good feeling.

5. Gave my car a much needed car wash, now I can see what color it is.

6. Worked on our taxes. (April 15th approaching fast)

7. Computer – found out that the part they sent us is useless. We were given wrong information. What we really need is a new power source, will have to wait till next week to get. It’s the only thing that went wrong yesterday.

8. Did several loads of laundry.

Today (Saturday)

Since I got rest and relaxation yesterday - I had energy to clean house today – spent all day working on the house. I feel good about that tonight.

I am taping “Ricky Sings” that is on PBS station right now, as I am writing this. I will watch it when I’m finished with this blog. It will be fun to see Ricky Nelson again. He was one of my “heart throbs” of my growing up years. Remember Ricky, from the Ozzie and Harriet show? Us girls watched it faithfully every week, and couldn’t wait for the end of the show to see Ricky sing!

I noticed “The Lawrence Welk” show repeats are still running on PBS. What memories that show gives me. We never watched it at our house, but I spent a lot of weekends over night at my Grandmother’s house, and she had to watch Lawrence Welk every Sat. night. I could not get out of it, I didn’t think he was cool back then, but I did sit down and watch it with her. She raved about The Lennon Sisters, and I must say that they did grow on me and eventually I came to like them too. Now, the thought of Lawrence Welk gives me warm, fuzzy feelings that I had with my Grandma. How I loved spending time with her, even if it meant having to sit through Lawrence Welk. Those were the days. Lawrence Welk, ice cream and pretzels, and a night away from my brothers!

About the computer - gee, I have a smart husband. Today he and Rob took the tower to Best Buy to see if they had the part. They sent us to Computer Renaissance. Bought the part, had it installed, spent $80, but better than buying a new computer. (This computer is 6 years old). Brought it home, yeah, the computer turned on! Yeah, I can blog again! I can e mail again.

I have a clean house, new phones, a computer that works, a great family and I feel rested.

Life is good!